Andhra Pradesh

I

Introduction

Andhra Pradesh, state, southern India, bordered on the south by Tamil Nadu State, on the west by Karnataka State, on the north and north-west by Maharashtra State, on the north-east by Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Orissa states, and on the east by the Bay of Bengal. Yanam, part of the union territory of Puducherry, forms a small enclave in the north-east of the state. Andhra Pradesh has an area of 275,045 sq km (106,195 sq mi).

II

Physical Geography

The Eastern Ghats mountains run the length of Andhra Pradesh. To their east is the coastal plain; to their west, the upland Telangana Plateau. Andhra Pradesh is crossed by several rivers, notably the Godavari, which crosses the north-east of the state, near the border with Chhattisgarh, and the Krishna, which flows eastwards across the state and empties into the Bay of Bengal, where it forms the northern limit of the Coromandel Coast. The alluvial soils they have laid down are highly fertile when irrigated and have made Andhra Pradesh one of India's leading agricultural areas. The climate of the inland plateau area is generally cooler and drier than that of the coast, where temperatures can reach 42° C (108° F) during the summer months of March to June. Average summer and winter temperatures for Andhra Pradesh range between 28° C (82° F) and 10° C (50° F). Rain falls mainly during the monsoon months from July to October, and averages between 1,400 mm (55 in) on the coast and 508 mm (20 in) inland. The monsoon brings damaging cyclones to the coastal plain.

III

Population

Andhra Pradesh has a population of 75,727,541 (2001), giving a density of 275 people per sq km (712 sq mi). The population of Hyderabad, the state capital, is 5,533,640 (2001). Other main cities and settlements in the state include Vishakhapatnam (population, 2001, 1,329,472), India’s fourth-largest port; Guntur (1991, 471,051); Kakinada (2001, 368,672), Tirupati (2001, 302,678), Vijayawada (2001, 1,011,152), and Warangal (2001, 577,190).

The state’s name refers to the Andhra people, who have lived in the region for more than 2,500 years, and who today comprise more than 85 per cent of the population. They are Hindus and their language, Telugu, is the state’s official language. A Muslim, Urdu-speaking minority lives in the upland plateau area, especially in Hyderabad; there are Tamil and Kannada speakers in the south and south-west.

IV

Economy

Agriculture is the most important sector of the economy. About 70 per cent of the state's population work in agriculture, and Andhra Pradesh is one of India's main rice producing areas. Other important crops are sugar cane, oil seeds, beans, and pulses. Since Indian independence in 1947, the state government has invested heavily in extending irrigated cultivation from the coast to the drier interior by constructing canals and dams. The Godavari and Krishna rivers today irrigate 6 million hectares (15 million acres) of farmland; the Nagarjuna Sagar project on the Krishna River, completed in 1960, is one of the largest schemes, with 800 km (500 mi) of canals feeding an irrigated system which produces rice and other crops to supply large agro-processing industries. Forested areas, which cover about 23 per cent of Andhra Pradesh, yield timber products such as teak, eucalyptus, cashew, casuarina, softwoods, and bamboo.

Andhra Pradesh is also one of India's most industrialized states. The industries, built up largely since 1947, include steel, shipbuilding, machine tool manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, heavy electrical machinery, fertilizers, cement, chemicals, sugar refining, and jute processing. Andhra Pradesh also has important mineral deposits, including coal, natural gas, asbestos, barytes, copper, mica, and iron ore. The Golconda mines—where the Koh-i-noor and other famous diamonds were found—are located in Andhra Pradesh. Tourism is of growing importance to the economy.